


How Come They Believe They Did No Wrong, When They're The Reason I'm Crying?

by akasharpiegirl



Series: Fight On, Fighter. [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Irondad, Irondad & Spiderson, Kinda, Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Needs a Hug, Morgan is still bad at math, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper Potts almost loses her sanity, Peter Parker is a Good Bro, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Teen Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Tony Stark Has A Heart, he loves his little sister uwu, its going somewhere, kids are mean, the inspiration behind this fic will be here eventually i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-29 17:43:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20800430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akasharpiegirl/pseuds/akasharpiegirl
Summary: Thirteen year old Morgan couldn’t shake this feeling. Someone knew. Or at least, they’re close to figuring it out. And she didn't like that feeling.





	How Come They Believe They Did No Wrong, When They're The Reason I'm Crying?

Thirteen year old Morgan couldn’t shake this feeling. Someone knew. Or at least, they’re close to figuring it out. And she didn't like that feeling. 

Two classes before she’d get to retreat home, she overheard murmuring and snickering at the group table behind her in English class. 

Despite needing to work on an argumentative essay, Morgan’s mind kept going back to wanting to eavesdrop on the group’s conversation.

She let her mind linger to the conversation and didn’t like what she heard.

“She shouldn’t even be in gifted anymore,” one said. “I heard from Corinne that they’re only keeping Morgan in the program because her parents made them keep her there.”

“Her Dad’s helping her but I don’t think it’s working all too well,” another said.

“Why haven’t they just given up on her? If she can’t live up to that?”, the last comment she let herself hear said.

_ How'd they find out? Corrine? The guidance counselor’s kid? They’re wrong. They’re wrong. C’mon, Morgan. You know that. There’s more to you than that. No, they’re right. They’ve got to be right. _

Morgan’s head was spinning. She felt like crying. But not here. All she wanted was an out. She wanted to be home, crying under her blankets, while hugging onto her Spider-Man Build-A-Bear. That was her safe spot, away from everyone.

The next thing she knew, it’s as if she had knots in her stomach. Probably from an ineffective attempt at keeping herself from crying. 

“Mrs. Trellis, can I go see the nurse?”, Morgan asked upon the uneasy feeling became more unbearable.

The older woman nodded to Morgan, to which, Morgan darted past the girls and out of the English classroom, and ran as quickly as possible to the nurse’s office. Running didn’t make the uneasy feeling get any better. If anything, that made it worse. (Trying to run with Hemiparesis is already hard enough in the first place.) 

A couple of minutes after she made it there, she had just thrown up her lunch into the trash can and was now laying down on the nurse’s couch, waiting to be picked up. She still felt sick. But she knew she just made herself sick. Still had a headache, still dizzy, her stomach still hurt. She wanted to cry.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Stark. This is Jasmine Moore… the school’s nurse. Anyway, I’m calling about Morgan, she came to me saying she wasn’t feeling well. I asked for specifics and then she threw up a moment later. She’s laying down in my office now. Is there any chance you could come pick her up early? I already called your wife and got no answer. If not, do you have anyone else on Morgan’s emergency contact sheet that you know could pick her up?”, she asked.

There was a painfully long pause. 

“Thank you, I’ll tell her. See you then,” Jasmine stated before hanging up the phone. 

Morgan turned her head toward where Jasmine was, though not opening her eyes for more than a second or two. 

“Your Dad will be here in ten minutes or so,” Jasmine stated. “I’ll call down to your class and get someone to bring your stuff.”

“Thank you,” Morgan quietly stated.

———

“Now that we’re out of the building, what happened? I know you well enough to know that this wasn’t just nausea,” Tony asked after the two got into his car and they were already a few hundred feet down the road. “If it was just a rough bout of nausea you’d be asking me to carry you to my car. But you seemed to be walking okay.”

“They know,” Morgan said, her voice weak. “I tried to keep myself from crying but that made me nauseous just trying to.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” Tony answered. “They know what?”

“You’re a genius, you should know what I’m referring to,” Morgan scoffed.

“You’re turning into your Mom more and more every single day and it’s scary,” Tony mumbled. 

“Dad,” Morgan grumbled.

“Look, I can’t read minds so you’re going to have to tell me what happened,” Tony leveled with his kid. “They know what? Give me names, give me specifics.”

“The whole school, they know. Or at least they will after today,” Morgan reluctantly stated. “I heard a whole bunch of kids talking about me in language arts. About my disability. About the cognitive effects behind it. Questioning why I’m allowed in the same classes they are. Connecting the dots on why I’m not in gifted math anymore.” Tears welled up in her eyes and she tried to blink them away. (She failed.) 

“Morgan, what’d they say? Do you know who started it?”, Tony asked upon turning on the road that led to the lake house. At the sight of seeing his daughter cry out of his peripheral vision, he was trying not to give into his impulsive side that wanted to turn the car around, drop Morgan off at Peter’s house, and give those kids who were gossiping about Morgan a piece of his mind. But he still turned into the driveway a couple moments later as originally planned. 

Morgan hesitated, she didn’t want to cry even more than she already was. She picked up her backpack and got out of the car before trying to answer her Dad’s question. The two sat down on the couch upon entering the home. “One of them said Corrine knows. I… They-”, Morgan’s words fell short as she felt a few more tears fall down her face. “I-I can't do this.”

“It’s okay, take your time,” Tony assured his daughter, seeing the look of pure sadness splayed across her face. Morgan was the most emotionally guarded kid Tony had ever met. (Even though every single neuropsychologist Morgan has seen says that kids with her condition are extremely open and by complete accident usually.) More guarded than he ever was as a kid and definitely more guarded than Harley and Peter ever were. Seeing her open up and show her true emotions was a rare occurrence, yet Tony could never fully prepare himself for when it would occur.

“Is it true?”, Morgan asked, looking at her Dad, who for the first time in her life since she was in third grade, she saw a ‘deer in the headlights' look come across her Dad’s face. 

Tony blinked in shock, “What?”

“Are they only keeping me on track for honors because you and Mom told them to?”, Morgan asked.

“No? We got the school to update your IEP and requested that you were retested for the program. You qualified for 2E like we thought you would,” Tony stated. “Was that something you heard those kids saying?” His expression went back to the fake calm one he’s had since he got the call that Morgan needed to come home.

“T-That’s nice to know because they said that,” Morgan answered. “Among other things.”

“What else did they say?”, Tony asked. 

“If I tell you, you’re going to want to talk to these kids’ parents,” Morgan grumbled. “By talk to I mean yell at.”

“I mean, I have the right to. You're my kid,” Tony paused. “If you’re hurting… Which it's pretty obvious you are, your Mom and I need to know, we want to help you.”

“I heard them ask how you and Mom haven't, like, given up on me for this,” Morgan stated quickly, tears invading her clear eyesight once again.

But not quick enough that Tony couldn't piece together what she had stated. Tony was  _ this  _ close to dropping Morgan off at Peter’s so he could talk to the administration after hearing that. “Do you believe their assumptions about you and our family?”

“I tried not to. I mean how can I not?”, Morgan answered, sniffling back tears that she knew would still fall. “I can't help but wonder, Dad.”

“Mom and I would  _ never _ give up on you, Morgan,” Tony held onto Morgan’s left hand. “It hurts us to see you struggle. It really does, and I’m not just saying that. It’s true for me, we can call her right now if you’re doubting her side of it too. But, the moment we found out you would make your grand entrance in December, your Mom and I made a promise to each other and to our, at that time, unborn child, that we’d always be our child’s best advocate. With whatever gets thrown at them. Then you came, and shortly after that, your life changed and therefore so did ours. What we promised never changed. Like we said when you came to us in third grade with this, we don’t see you any differently.”

“Thanks,” she said quietly. Morgan stayed quiet for a moment after that. “Are you going to do anything?”

“Yes,” Tony was quick to say. “I just don’t know what yet.”

“Does Momma know?”, Morgan asked.

“Not yet, no,” Tony answered. “I’m not going to talk to her till I get your entire side of the story. Which I think I have. Is that right?”

“Mhm, that was it,” Morgan confirmed.

Tony sent off a text in a group chat with Pepper and Peter then. 

“You cool with hanging with Peter for a bit while I talk to your Mom?”, Tony asked a few moments later.

————

“What do you suppose we do?”, Pepper asked. “I have to be honest here saying I’m not sure how to go about it.”

“Oh, wait a minute.  _ You _ ?  _ You  _ are asking for  _ my _ opinion? I thought my approaches to these types of situations were too impulsive for your liking,” Tony broke a smile for the first time since before he got the phone call from Morgan’s school.

“Tony,” Pepper rolled her eyes at her husband. “Normally, I think that. But with situations regarding Morgan and her education, though you’re impulsive, you’re right a good portion of the time about it. And we're a team, you know that. And like I said a moment ago, with cases on Morgan's education you have better ideas than I do. But if you’re going to rub it in my face then that window of opportunity is closing.”

“The fact is Corrine is the guidance counselor’s kid, which means their family is close to all of the admins. No matter what we say or do will get her in trouble for something she should get in trouble for,” Tony stated. “Well, that’s what is expected to happen in a situation like this, at least. The confidentiality agreement was something we made the school comply with and one of the kids found out. Probably because someone left her file out. Maguna’s IEP meeting was last week, so it's not a surprise. It's an honest mistake. But even still, that needs to be brought to light.”

“How are you planning to bring it up though?”, Pepper asked.

“Set up a meeting, if they're stubborn, tell them we're moving schools if they don't handle it like we stated when we presented them with the forms,” Tony stated nonchalantly. “They'll want to do something about it the minute they remember that twenty percent of their STEM and Arts programs have been sponsored financially by the company and taking Morgan away also takes away that funding if we chose that route. That school district was the only one willing to follow the lines of confidentiality, which is why we even sent her there. They won't jump for the arts but they'll jump for STEM. If they don't, a good portion of the employees will resign with the backlash from parents and students at the high school. And if people have enough sense, the backlash is not going to be towards you.”

“And which one of us is going to tell them that?”, Pepper asked. 

“I became soft the moment Morgan was born, I'm no use,” Tony answered. “Plus you're the CEO, I don't make any of the company decisions anymore. Unless I'm taken in as a consultant. But that still has to run by you.”

“But this is a family matter first, which were always a team there,” Pepper stated. “And while I don't really agree with stating that, I agree that we need to set up a meeting about Morgan… Address our concerns. Casually mention that we have been looking into other schools in case we need to move her, see if they realize what that could mean. Go from there.”

————

“Peter, I noped you, that's not fair!”, Morgan laughed, upon seeing Peter lay down a ‘nope’ card during their game of Exploding Kittens.

“Technically, if it's already in my deck I can,” Peter smiled at his little sister, who was finally smiling. “I gave you an attack card, you noped me, and I noped your nope. Take two turns, Morgan!”

Morgan pouted as she drew two cards, “Fine.”

Peter laid down two taco cat cards, “Random card.” Peter picked the middle card of Morgan’s five card deck that sat in her card holder.

He drew a card a moment later from the draw pile, upon looking at it, he realized he was screwed. He didn't have a diffuse card anymore. He also didn't realize that he wasn't bluffing, there was true shock and despair pasted on his face. 

Morgan looked at her brother expectantly, “You have an exploding kitten card. Don't you? You used your diffuse earlier.”

“That he does,” Tony made his presence known to the pseudo brother-sister duo. They were too wrapped up into their competitive natures that they didn't see or hear Pepper or Tony enter five minutes ago. 

“Mr. Stark!”, Peter rolled his eyes. He sat the card down, accepting defeat. 

“You should've used your see into the future card, then shuffled the deck. But that's just me,” Tony commented.

“I figured as much,” Peter acknowledged Tony’s piece of advice.

“Ha,” Morgan laughed, now helping Peter pack up the game.

“Let me know how the meeting goes tomorrow, yeah?”, Peter asked Tony upon finishing packing up his half of the deck.

Tony nodded to Peter.

“Morgan? When you're done can I talk to you for a moment, honey?”, Pepper asked a moment later.

Morgan nodded to her Mom as she put her half of the deck in the box.

Pepper sat down next to Morgan in Morgan’s room a moment later. 

“So, Dad told me what happened to you at school today,” Pepper started off.

Morgan's smile fell and her right hand began to tense up as a response to nerves, “Oh, yeah. That.”

“And when he came by my work today to talk about it, we set a meeting up with the administration to talk about it… Tomorrow afternoon right after you get out of school,” Pepper continued. “I want to know if you want to be in there for all of it. You're getting older and they're going to start requesting that you sit in on IEP meetings starting next year. You don't have to say anything unless you want to. And I'm not pressuring you to sit in on it either. But, to me, this seems like you need to sit in on it with us.”

“What are they going to do?”, Morgan asked.

“We don't know,” Pepper answered honestly. “That's why we're having a meeting. We have some predictions, but sometimes predictions aren't accurate.”

“Do you think it'll go the way you want it to?”, Morgan asked quietly. 

“Yes, Morgan, I do,” Pepper answered Morgan’s question. “If it doesn't, it'll probably be up to you what we do.”

“Huh?”, Morgan asked. “What do you mean?”

“Someone, probably Corinne’s mother, most likely left out your file last week. When we found our you had a learning deficit, we had all admins sign forms that basically said that everything known about you must stay between the administration and our family. Corrine’s mother, though probably an accident, let out information we didn’t allow her to give out. That seems to be why Corrine knew,” Pepper explained. “Your Dad said I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I think you can handle knowing it, so… We said that if there was a violation of the forms at hand, we are liable to move you to another school and transferring any help the company gives them financially.”

“Oh?”, Morgan asked.

“We think if it comes down to it, whatever decisions Dad and I come up with, you can make the final decision,” Pepper stated. “So if it’s obvious we need to move you at the end of the year, once we research other schools and options, you’re in on it. Deal?”

“Deal,” Morgan answered her Mom. 

“So that means you’ll go to the meeting?”, Pepper asked.

“Mhm,” Morgan said.

————

The bell rang and Morgan dashed out her social studies classroom, finding her way to the office.

Morgan overheard Pepper as she walked through the doors, “Is it okay if Morgan sits in on this meeting? She said she feels like she needs to be here and hear things first hand.” (Which was a lie, she didn’t ask. But she did want to hear first hand.)

The vice principal looked at Morgan before speaking, it was hard for each member of the family to read her expression. The woman quickly shrugged the confused expression off, “Uh, yes ma’am, I don’t see why that’s a problem. We’ll be in the small conference room which is the second door on the left hand side once you enter that hallway. I’ll be right there.”

Morgan followed her parents into the room the vice principal pointed to and she sat in the chair between the two of them.

There were seven people in there total. Morgan, her parents, the principals, the guidance counselor, and the superintendent.

“According to your email, you two seem to think that our confidentiality agreement that was put in place for Morgan since day one in this system has been violated,” the superintendent opened the meeting after five minutes of unnecessary small talk. 

“I don't believe that it's a guess on our end if I'm honest,” Tony was quick to say. “I got a call from the school nurse yesterday around one PM. Morgan was appearing to be sick so I came to pick her up. Come to find out that she overheard some kids talking about her in English class, at the table behind her. She made herself sick while trying not to embarrass herself in front of the entire class, ending up probably embarrassing herself more. She heard things that were specifically stated in the agreement to keep between my family and the administration here at this school. How is it that some kid knew? It's so secretive not even my practically adopted son could figure out on his own given the chance. When she name dropped this one girl, it clicked. It's no guess.”

“What was the girl’s name Morgan?”, the vice principal asked.

“I heard the kids that were talking about me say Corinne told them,” Morgan answered reluctantly. “Corrine Jacobs.”

Both Pepper and Tony saw the Earth shattering revelation slap the guidance counselor in the face. 

“Oh my God,” Mrs. Jacobs mumbled. She buried her head into her hands for a moment. “When will she actually learn human decency?”

“Did you know about this?”, the special education coordinator asked Mrs. Jacobs. 

“No, I didn't. I'm really sorry,” she admitted. “When I was invited to the IEP meeting due to the fact that she'll be a rising freshman, I pulled her files with permission from the Starks simply to refresh my memory. I went to grab some coffee because I had a plethora of other IEP related files to look through that night. Came back to Corrine sitting in my chair, the file moved to the coffee table. Didn't even think to ask her if she saw anything… Corrine’s been on this mean girl kick and my husband and I have been trying to tell her why that's not right.”

“Best case scenario,” Pepper quietly said to Tony.

“It's not that we're mad at you, it was a simple mistake. We let you take the file home, you didn't know that was going to happen,” Tony assured her. “The only way we will be mad is if you, the administration, doesn't do anything to keep this information from spreading.”

“The thing is, I wouldn't mind stating publicly that due to her disability she's been having trouble academically. Shut down the nonsense of tabloid rumors about bad parenting when it comes, because let's face it, they will come with anything my husband and I do. But ever since she came to us with and admitted she was having trouble in math, the first thing she practically said was the moment the public knows, everything will change Which it would. It will,” Pepper added. “She's already bullied for looking different, she doesn't want to be seen different for thinking differently too.”

“When I was helping her with math the night she told us, she looked at me through tears and told me that eventually, she'd be fine with the world knowing. But it would have to be on her own terms. As her parent, one of her best advocates, I should respect her wishes. Right then and especially now, you can ask her if you don't believe me, she really isn't accepting herself. It hurts to see her constantly compare herself to me, my wife, and her brother. When all of our brains work differently, with or without a deficit. That's how we're designed to be,” Tony paused. “That's why we updated that agreement. What we want is confirmation that you all will do something to keep this information from spreading anymore or at least guard it inside the school walls. I know that's easier said than done, but if you really value our involvement in your school, you have to abide by what we're requesting of you. If you refuse to even try, we will start looking for alternative forms of education for her. I know that you know what that means.”

The superintendent, principal, and vice principal raised their eyebrows at Tony’s last statement.

“Do whatever you have to do to make sure it doesn’t spread,” Corrine’s mother stated. “Maybe this’ll teach her that being a rude person isn’t actually fun cause apparently what I’m trying isn’t doing a thing.”

“Do you know if Corrine is in your room?”, the principal asked her after the principals and superintendent discussed the situation amongst themselves.

“She should be,” Mrs. Jacobs states.

“Before I send a message to your next door neighbor, Mrs. Jacobs,” the principal paused, switching his vision from the guidance counselor to Tony, Pepper, and Morgan. “Is there anything else we need to discuss before making a dent into the solution of this problem?”

“I-“, Pepper barely got out.

“I kinda want to know if you’re actually going to do something about it,” Morgan spoke up. 

Tony made a mental note to high five his kid once the meeting was over for that comment. She practically read his mind.

The superintendent blinked in shock.

“It’s a valid question,” Tony sided with his kid. 

The principal took a breath before beginning to come up with an answer, “Well, this was a serious offense. Violation of another student’s privacy, bullying… Due to our want to respect everyone’s right to privacy, I can’t exactly tell you what type of punishment we’re giving her. But I can tell you what we usually do in cases like this.” 

———

Morgan, Tony, and Pepper walked out of the room a few moments later, seeing a confused Corrine walk into the office. That is, until she made eye contact with Tony. 

And he wouldn’t lie if it felt nice giving her some type of death glare in passing.

“Hey FRI, let Peter know the meeting went okay,” Tony said upon driving back to the lake house with Morgan. 

Tony looked into his inside rearview mirror as he approached a stoplight, seeing Morgan looking outside the window.

“You okay back there?”, Tony asked before driving again.

“Mhm,” Morgan hummed. “Just nervous, that’s all.”

“Me too, Maguna,” Tony said to her. “Hey, practically read my mind at that meeting, y'know. That's kinda cool.”

“How?”, Morgan asked.

“When you asked them what they’d do to fix it at the end,” Tony answered. “I was going to ask that once Momma said her piece.”

“Oh,” Morgan mumbled. “Yeah, that's cool I guess.”

“Everything is going to be okay, kiddo. It’s something that I’m having to tell myself too. But I have this small feeling that everything will truly be okay with this,” Tony stated. “If it's not, you know I'd never stop fighting for you, right?”

“Yeah, Dad… I know,” Morgan said, a faint smile appearing on her face.


End file.
